“I’m taking over a program that has really struggled, and it needs a new vibrancy. It needs new life,” the school’s newly minted basketball coach said Tuesday at his introductory press conference at the Rose Hill Campus.

“I haven’t walked in here with a five-year plan. I shared with our team that we are walking in here with a one-year plan. You’ve got three seniors that we will absolutely play for next season.”

That plan could hinge on Eric Paschall, the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, who decided to consider other schools when Tom Pecora was dismissed on March 18.

Despite the uncertainty of potentially losing a key returner, Neubauer expressed optimism he was able to get through to Paschall when he addressed the team on Monday.

Eric PaschallAP

“I spent more time with him yesterday than any of the guys,” Neubauer said of Paschall, who was reportedly visiting Villanova on Tuesday.

“You heard me say how impressed I was with the group. I was more impressed with Eric than anyone.”

Neubauer is coming off a 10-season run as the coach at Eastern Kentucky, where he led the Colonels to a 188-134 (.584) record and two NCAA Tournaments, in 2007 and 2014.

He is now tasked with a massive rebuilding project, as the Rams struggled mightily under Pecora, posting a 44-106 (.293) record over the past five seasons.

As Neubauer sets about molding the program in his image, he intends to spend a lot of time building relationships with the returning players.

“My whole mentality [is] about the guys on campus, whereas some guys take a job [in April] and they literally go out the entire month of April recruiting and don’t get to know their guys,” Neubauer said. “There’s no question that the future of Fordham basketball is going to begin with the guys in this room.”

Neubauer won over athletic director Dave Roach during an interview that set him apart from the other candidates.

“We spent a little over two and a half hours in my office, and we probably could have spent another five,” Roach said. “Sometimes when you interview people, that time seems to go long, but it [was] just kind of a comfortable feeling that he’d be a great fit for Fordham, and great for our student-athletes.”